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Ask Scoopy: Precipitation

about precipitation

Published: Thursday, Apr. 15, 2010 - 11:10 am
Last Modified: Thursday, Apr. 15, 2010 - 12:13 pm

Q: What state mountain set the record for snow from a single storm?
A: Mount Shasta received 189 inches from a single storm in 1959.

Q: Bagdad, Calif., has gone how many days in a row without rain?
A: 767 days in a row from October 1912 to November 1914.

Q: What is virga?
A: Precipitation that evaporates before it reaches the ground.

Q: How much does it cost to clear the country's streets of snow each year?
A: About $2 billion annually.

Q: How many inches of rain fell in Cherrapunji, India, to set monthly world record?
A: 366 inches of rain fell on the village in July 1861.

Q: On average, what is the driest continent
A: Antarctica is the driest, coldest, and windiest continent.

Q: How large was the largest U.S. hailstone?
A: It measured 18.75 inches around.

Q: What weather event is the most likely cause of hail?
A: Thunderstorms.

Q: On average, what is the wettest city in the United States?
A: Hilo, Hawaii, receives an average of 128 inches annually.

Q: What is the record for the most snow in a 24-hour period in the United States?
A: 77 inches in Montague, N.Y., in a lake-effect snow event Jan. 11-12, 1997.

Q: What is a squall line?
A: A narrow band of active thunderstorms that is not associated with a cold front.

Q: Hail normally is produced by what weather phenomenon?
A: Thunderstorms

Q: What does "Snow Level" mean?
A: It is the cutoff between rain and snow.

Q: What is Graupel?
A: It is a pellet of snow that looks like sleet or small hail.

Q: What is SWE?
A: Snow Water Equivalent

Q: Which frozen precipitation falls mainly in the summer?
A: Hail.

Q: What desert is considered the driest place in the world?
A: The Atacama desert in Chile receives about 0.03 inches of rain per year.

Q: What is the SPC?
A: The Storm Prediction Center.

Q: What is an MCC?
A: A Mesoscale Convective Complex, which is a large storm cluster formed from isolated thunderstorms.

Q: What does POP stand for?
A: Probability of precipitation.

Q: How big is the average raindrop?
A: About 2 millimeters in diameter.

Q: What is the record daily snowfall for Sacramento?
A: The most snow in one day was 3.5 inches.

Q: What does QPF stand for?
A: Quantitative Precipitation Forecast.

Q: Does it snow in Hawaii?
A: Yes.

Q: Which city gets more precipitation: Sacramento or San Jose?
A: Sacramento receives 19.87 inches and San Jose receives 15.08 inches.

Q: How much is a trace of precipitation?
A: Less than 0.01 inch of rain.

Q: What is the outermost color in a primary rainbow?
A: Red is on the outside and violet is on the inside.

Q: What city is considered the driest inhabited place on Earth?
A: Arica, Chile with an average annual rainfall of 0.03 inches.

Q: If a place receives 30 inches of rain, how many raindrops fell?
A: About 1 billion raindrops per square yard.

Q: If 1 inch of rain falls on 1 acre, how much does it weigh?
A: It weighs approximately 226,000 pounds.

Q: What part of the world sees the most thunderstorms?
A: The island of Java sees thunderstorms 322 days a year.

Q: How does precipitation fog form?
A: Precipitation falls into dry air, causing evaporation and condensation.

Q: What is the driest city in the United States?
A: Yuma, Airz., receives only an average of 3.17 inches of rain annually.

Q: How hot is a lightning bolt?
A: About 54,000 degrees.

Q: How many lightning strikes occur in the country each year?
A: About 20 million lightning strikes annually.

Q: What percentage of lightning is cloud-to-ground?
A: 20 percent of lightning is cloud-to-ground (and is the most dangerous).

Q: What are the odds you will be struck by lightning in your lifetime?
A: About 1 in 6,250.

Q: What are the odds of being struck by lightning this year?
A: About 1 in 700,000.

Q: Keraunophobia is the irrational fear of what?
A: It is the fear of thunder and lightning.

Q: About how many U.S. deaths are attributed to lightning each year?
A: On average, about 82.

Q: What type of cloud is most associated with lightning?
A: Cumulonimbus.

Q: After you see lightning, how long does it take to hear thunder?
A: About 5 seconds for each mile between you and the lightning bolt.

Q: In a year, the Empire State Building is struck by lightning how many times?
A: On average, about 20 times per year.

Q: What is brontophobia?
A: The irrational fear of thunder and lightning.

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